Barbecuing machine



March 25, 1952 J. M. SKOCIC 2,590,470

BARBECUING MACHINE Filed Oct. 15, 1949 2 SHEETSI--SHEET 1 v INVENTOR. EBY 5/406/6.

J. M. SKOCIC BARBECUING MACHINE March 25, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEE'1 2 FiledOct. 15, 1949 INVENTOR. I 60/70 /'7.' 670cm. flf/gf/ ATTQe/VEX' PatentedMar. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,590,470 BARBECUING MACHINEJohn M. Skocic, Lowellville, Ohio Application October 13, 1949, SerialNo. 121,139

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a barbecuing machine and more particularly toa barbecuing machine in which lubrication of the mechanical parts of themachine is provided by the article 01; articles being barbecued.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a barbecuingmachine on which various articles may be quickly and desirablybarbecued.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a barbecuingmachine including a number of removable skewers upon which the articlesto be barbecued are impaled.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a barbecuingmachine incorporating a novel means of presenting the articles to bebarbecued to the heat source.

The barbecuing machine disclosed herein comprises a simple and efficientmechanism for the rapid barbecuing of such articles as wieners, othermeats or food products and comprises a novel arrangement of mechanicalmeans for rotating the food carrying parts of the machine with respectto a heat source which is positioned in the machine for movement towardand away from the food carrying parts thereof. The device is compact andformed of simple construction and is lubricated and self-cleaning inoperation and is particularly suited for barbecuing large quantities ofmeats or food products in a relatively short time.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, itbeing understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within thescope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine with the mechanism coverremoved.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the device shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a side view of the device shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail of one of the removable skewers and the mountingmeans therefor.

By referring to the drawings and Figures 1, 2 and 3 in particular itwill be seen that a barbecuing machine has been disclosed whichcomprises a rectangular box-like frame it having side and back wallsH-il and I2, respectively, and divided into two superimposedcompartments by a horizontal partition is which is secured at itscorners to the rectangular frame l8 and provides support for aninsulating member M having a pair of skids [5 on the uppermost surfacethereof. The surface of the skids is elevated with respect to theinsulating member It. The rectangular frame It) also has a bottomsection [6 therein which supports a combination motor and gear reductionunit I! in operative relation to a transverse shaft I8 which isjournaled at its outermost end in a bearing I9 and provided intermediateits ends with a worm gear 28.

Located midway between the sides ll-ll and near the front of the lowerone of the two superimposed compartments formed in the machine, asheretofore described, there is a vertical drive shaft 2! which carries aworm wheel 22 thereon in engagement with the worm gear 20 heretoforereferred to. The lower end of the vertically positioned drive shaft 21is journaled in a bearing 23 and the upper end extends through thehorizontal partition I3 by way of a suitable opening therein. A pair ofhousing bars 24-24 are positioned transversely of the machine andimmediately above the horizontal partition l3 heretofore referred to andsecured at their outermost ends in superimposed spaced relation to oneanother by a spacing boss 25 and the bars 24-24 are mounted on brackets26 carried on the rectangular frame It. The housing bars 24-24 areprovided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings and aplurality of gears 21 are positioned in longitudinal arrangement betweenthe housing bars 24-24. Each of the gears 21 has a vertically extendingboss thereon engagingthe aligned openings in the housing bars 24-24.

A detail of one of the gears 21 may be seen by referring to Figure 5 ofthe drawings and it will be observed that the upwardly extending boss 28thereon has a squared socket 29 therein while the downwardly extendingboss 38 has a shoulder 3| formed thereon to form a suitable bearingsurface on the upper surface of the lower one of the housing bars 24-24.The upwardly extending boss 28 on each of the gears 21 extends upwardlythrough the uppermost one of the housing bars 24-24. Cups 28A are formedone on each of the upwardly extending bosses 28 and vertically formedchannels 28B in each of the bosses 28 and communicate with the cups andare provided to convey fat downwardly through the bosses to a drip pan39 located beneath the partition I 3. A plurality of skewers 32 havingsquared lower ends longitudinally extending portions of which are cutaway to form passageways are positioned one in each of the squaredsockets 29 in the upwardly extending bushing 28 of each of the gears 21.

By referring to Figure 4 of the drawings it will be observed that thegears 21 are all in engagement with one another and the centermost oneof the plurality of gears 21 is positioned on the uppermost end of thevertical drive shaft 2| heretofore referred to. Thus, rotating motionimparted to the'vertical drive shaft 2| by the motor and gear reductionunit I! through the worm gear 28 and worm wheel 22, as heretoforedescribed, will rotate each and every one of the gears 21. It will beobserved that the rotation of each gear is in a direction opposite tothat of its adjacent gear.

By referring to Figure 3 of the drawings it will be seen that the lowersquared end of each of the skewers 32 lies on a plane immediately abovethe plane of the skids l5 and in the uppermost one of the superimposedcompartments of the barbecuing machine. It will also be seen that theplurality of skewers 32 are thus transversely positioned with respect tothe barbecuing machine and near the front section thereof which is openwith respect to the uppermost one of the superimposed compartments.

A hinged closure 33 is provided for closing the front of the lower oneof the superimposed compartments in the barbecuing machine. The hingedclosure 33 is provided with an inturned flange 34 which moves intoengagement with a guard 38 positioned transversely of the machine andover the gears 27 to form a closure with respect to the lowercompartment as it overlies the horizontal partition 13 heretoforereferred to.

A charcoal basket 35 is provided as a heat source for the barbecuingmachine and comprises a relatively tall enclosure of a width less thanthe width of the machine and has a rather shallow depth. The lowerportion of the back of the basket 35 is inclined toward the frontthereof so that charcoal positioned in the basket will form a verticallydisposed heat source, the principal radiating surface of which will beadjacent the plurality of vertically standing skewers 32 as heretoforedescribed. The basket 35 rests on the skids l5 and stands in verticalposition freely in the approximate center of the uppermost one of thetwo compartments of the barbecuing machine by reason of a rearwardlyextending handle 36 formed on the uppermost edge of the basket. Thehandle 38 rests on the upper edge of the back wall 12 of the device.Thus the basket may be readily moved forwardly toward the skewers 32 orbackwardly away therefrom by simple manual movement imparted to thehandle 36. The rapidity of barbecuing meats or other articles positionedon the skewers 32 is thus under the control of the operator.

The entire machine is preferably supported on suitably spaced legs 37which may be integrally formed with the rectangular frame 10, ifdesired, so that it provides a convenient machine for the indicatedpurpose.

It will be seen that meat or other food products may be positioned onthe skewers 32 in advance of the actual barbecuing action. The severalskewers 32 positioned in the sockets 29 formed in the bushings 28 on thegears 21 and the motor and gear reduction unit IT are energized to causethe same to revolve. Meat barbecued on the skewers 32 in the machine maybe easily removed therefrom or may be served while on the skewers.Additional meat or other food products may be continuously presented tothe barbecuing heat of the machine due to the flexibility of the deviceoccurring from the provision of the plurality of skewers and theirremovable positioning with respect to their supporting and rotatingmeans.

The vertical standing position of the skewers 32 in the machine will beseen to provide for the automatic draining away of the fat from the meator other meat products being barbecued as the same will run down theskewers 32 and be received in the cups 28A and thence drained throughthe channels 28B despite the presence of the heat source adjacentthereto. The machine is very easily cleaned as the skewers are removedtherefrom for separate cleaning and the bushings and cups themselves maybe easily removed for individual cleaning, if desired, by

4 loosening the means normally spacing the housing bars 2424 which willpermit the several gears to be removed from the machine.

The device as disclosed thus meets the several objects of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a barbecuing machine having a frame, a pair of apertured housingbars positioned horizontally in said frame and in vertically spacedrelation to one another, the apertures in one bar being in verticalalignment with the apertures of the other bar, a plurality ofhorizontally disposed, longitudinally aligned, intermeshed gearspositioned between said housing bars, upwardly and downwardly extendingbosses on said gears, said bosses registering in said vertically alignedapertures in said housing bars, the upwardly extending bossesterminating above the uppermost one of the said pair of housing bars,cups integrally formed on the uppermost portions of said upwardlyextending bosses, vertical passageways through said bosses and solidlongitudinally grooved skewers removably positioned in said passagewaysand extending vertically thereabove, and means in said frame forrotating at least one of said gears.

2. In a barbecuing machine having a frame, a pair of housing barsremovably positioned horizontally in said frame and in vertically spacedrelation to one another, each of said housing bars having longitudinallyspaced openings therethrough, a plurality of horizontally disposed,longitudinally aligned, intermeshed gears removably positioned betweensaid housing bars, upwardly and downwardly extending bosses on saidgears, said bosses registering in said openings in said housing bars,the upwardly extending bosses terminating above the uppermost one ofsaid pair of housing bars, cups integrally formed on the uppermostportions of said upwardly extending bosses, vertical passageways throughsaid bosses and gears and solid skewers each having a longitudinallyextending groove near its lower end removably positioned one in theupper end of each of said passageways and extending verticallythereabove, said longitudinally extending groove in the lower end ofsaid skewers forming secondary passageways communicating with saidpassageways.

JOHN M. SKOCIC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 501,867 Cacciatori July 18, 1893640,305 Lynch -Jan. 2, 1900 839,236 Vartiniana Dec. 25, 1906 1,113,473Noreck Oct. 13, 1914 1,588,530 Currier et al. June 15, 1926 1,719,713Miller July 2, 1929 2,049,481 Walterspiel Aug 4, 1936 2,122,780 PeytonJuly 5; 1938 2,181,847 Finizio Nov. 28, 1939 2,306,519 Bobo Dec. 29,1942 2,321,427 Schelling June 8, 1943 2,335,217 Tate Nov. 23, 19432,377,873 Finizio June 12, 1945 2,470,645 Reichart May 17, 19492,482,601 Spartalis Sept. 20, 1949 2,485,890 Keljik Oct. 25, 19492,505,976 Leon May 2, 1950

